NAMM's main man drums up support

Instrumental passion brings out the kid in the tireless CEO of Carlsbad's global-reaching National Association of Music Merchants

Joe Lamond, the President and CEO of the National Association of Music Merchants in Carlsbad, keeps a snappy beat at the nonprofit NAMM's Museum of Making Music -- and across the ever-growing world of musical instruments and technology.

Joe Lamond, the President and CEO of the National Association of Music Merchants in Carlsbad, keeps a snappy beat at the nonprofit NAMM's Museum of Making Music -- and across the ever-growing world of musical instruments and technology.

"At the NAMM show, you see many people, like me, who found a way to stay in the music field and found a related skill, be it making musical instruments or music apps, or managing a business."

Weekend Warriors

It was during his tenure at Skip’s that Lamond helped devise and launch Weekend Warriors, a marketing campaign that encouraged baby-boomers who had entered the daily work force to resume playing music in their spare time. Its success in Sacramento led to the Weekend Warriors concept being emulated nationwide, which in turn led to Lamond being hired by NAMM in 1998 as its marketing director. He became CEO three years later.

" 'Weekend Warriors' is the perfect kind of program that NAMM would look to support," said Taylor Guitars' co-founder Listug.

"I'm not speaking for NAMM now, but it's a program that involves the community, gives people a platform to play music and have fun, and meet other people. And it's replicable in other parts of the community and the world. It's really smart and really popular, and Joe it started at Skip's Music."

In fact, Lamond noted, it actually started with his family.

“My older brother, Jim, was the inspiration for Weekend Warriors, which is the reason I’m here (at NAMM),” he said.

“My brother got out of law school and wanted to play bass (again). He couldn’t get help at (the Sacramento) Guitar Center because he had a suit and tie on and didn’t ‘look’ like a musician. He ended up playing on (blues singer) Susan Tedeschi’s first two albums. He’s now a labor attorney and a partner in a law firm and he’ll be coming to NAMM for the first time this year.”

Lamond smiled.

“The first band I drummed in, Fox Fire, was my brother’s band,” he said.

"So the NAMM show is like a giant tree, with all these other career paths as its branches. But at base of the tree is a kid — a lot of kids — who loved music and wanted to make it their life. That’s our unifying force.”